


Vulnerability Up

by dragonsong (NekoAisu)



Series: FFXIV Minifics [13]
Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Ambiguous Warrior of Light (Final Fantasy XIV), Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Healing Magic, Injury, Other, Tumblr: ffxivimagines, Unnamed Warrior of Light (Final Fantasy XIV)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-10
Updated: 2020-05-10
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:28:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24101341
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NekoAisu/pseuds/dragonsong
Summary: They have a mission─people to save, a world to deliver─and here he is, sitting in some godsawful excuse for a hiding place while the ground around him gets redder by the second.
Relationships: Ardbert & Warrior of Light (Final Fantasy XIV), Ardbert/Warrior of Light (Final Fantasy XIV)
Series: FFXIV Minifics [13]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1336648
Comments: 2
Kudos: 39





	Vulnerability Up

**Author's Note:**

> Giveaway comm for cactuar-enthusiast @ tumblr  
> Thank you for your patience and support!

Ardbert has been having a no-good-very-bad-absolutely-terrible day. Set of days, really. Or weeks, rather. Maybe months. He hasn’t been keeping too clear a count. It’s hard to be clear when keeping count will just drive all of them crazy. They have a mission─people to save, a world to deliver─and here he is, sitting in some godsawful excuse for a hiding place while a behemoth prowls around nearby. He’d nearly walked straight into its maw on his way to rest. Too little blood is left in his head and too much of it has exited him via a rather painful cut across his left forearm.

It is of nearly no surprise when he fails to notice the behemoth falling quiet, nor the sound of footsteps drawing near. He is dizzy, so _painfully_ dizzy, and wants to sleep for a good week and then have Lamitt slam a Cure II into his face point-blank for good measure.

“Are you quite well?”

He makes a vague and hopefully less than worrying noise in response. Cognition is hard and he is _tired._ Talking feels like a monumental task to even _think_ about.

Whoever is at his side sits down rather abruptly and grabs his arm, peeling layers of leather and fur away from his wound. Ardbert winces, but is out of energy to do much else. The blood loss has gotten to him far worse than he feared.

They clean him up with a clinical touch and a lot of unintelligible muttering he swears he can _feel_ instead of hear. They are very clearly worried, to go to such lengths for him. He may say something to that affect, from how they laugh softly, but he isn’t paying much attention. His vision still spins. 

They press a potable into his right palm and help him drink. It tastes like chewing on a very herbaceous rock and feels like a kick in the teeth. His nerves _vibrate_ and wow. That packed a _kick._ It’s like someone had slammed a ceruleum engine into his chest, how lively he feels.

“Any better?”

“Amazing, actually,” he replies. “Thank you.”

They shake their head. “Think nothing of it. I thank the Twelve I found you when I did.”

“Were you looking?”

“It is hard to miss a trail of blood,” they say, blunt and disapproving of his apparent attempts at first aid. “Why did you wander this way? It is known for dangerous fauna.”

Ardbert opens his mouth and manages a very strained, “I am… not from around here.”

“Ah,” they reply, “that explains it, then.” They stand and brush dirt from their gear, tossing another potable his way. “I must be off. Head north and you’ll come across a tavern. Drink that if you begin to feel faint again. There are carts going into the city from there.”

“Your name?”

“Nothing of consequence.”

“So… Mysterious Savior is okay?”

“Fine, fine,” they say, laughing. “I am simply an adventurer with a name you’d likely forget in a day if never manage to pronounce.”

“I would still like to know it!”

They smile at him, brilliant and blinding with the sun haloed behind them, and Ardbert wonders if perhaps Hydaelyn had arranged for their intervention. They are too dazzling.

“Next time. Maybe you will be the one saving me, outlander.”

“It’s Ardbert!”

“Outlander Ardbert.”

**Author's Note:**

> I love he. 
> 
> Hmu on:  
> Twitter [@khirimochi](https://twitter.com/khirimochi) OR [@TheHolyBody (NSFW)](https://twitter.com/TheHolyBody)  
> Tunglr @[Main](https://kiriami.tumblr.com) OR @[FFXIV Imagines](https://ffxivimagines.tumblr.com)


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